à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoisonné son cerveau
| 20:20 Jun 26, 2012 |
| French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature | |||||||
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| Discussion entries: 18 | |
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Answers
32 mins confidence: 
| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau Through the hair, the drugs have poisoned his brain. Explanation: I would probably go with the literal version on this. I think it's meant to sound irrational. |
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32 mins confidence:
| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau by the hair on his head, drugs have seeped into his brain Explanation: seems to be a metaphor of "osmosis" here. Or maybe even that the "wildness" of his hair (colored? dreads? mohawk? whatever) is the outward appearance of what the mother suspects is the inward reality – the drug consumption. The hair is just the "stereotype" of a "druggie" You miight even consider "creeped into his brain" or "leaked into his brain" |
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1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau it [the drug] has poisoned his brain through/via his hair Explanation: It sounds more natural in English if you turn the sentence around. Also, this way, it puts more emphasis on brain/hair, which ties in nicely with the previous "He's lost his head!" And to boot, the first part of the sentence is "It's all the fault of this drug..." |
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1 hr confidence:
| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau they have seeped in through his hair and poisoned his brain Explanation: After reading the other comments this is my arrangement of the words. I agree with the more literal and hysterical meaning. This wording can also imply that the hair might be at fault. |
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10 hrs confidence:
| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau The drug has poisoned his brain through the hair. Explanation: Imho |
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14 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau through his hair and got to his brain Explanation: "- Il a perdu la tête, disait sa belle-mère. C'est cette drogue qui a fait tout le mal: à travers les cheveux, elle a empoissonné son cerveau." "He's not all there, said his stepmother. Drugs have done it: they've gone through his hair and got to his brain." or "done his head in" if the ste^mother speaks that way! |
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14 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| à travers les cheveux, la drogue a empoissonné son cerveau the drugs have gone through his hair and scrambled his brains Explanation: Obviously, we have not been given sufficient context to be sure of the author's intention. However, I read this as the sort of almost joking exaggeration that a parent might make when they just can't deal with their offspring's behaviour. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2012-06-27 10:31:58 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- I don't think it should be read as a lay attempt at a clinical diagnosis! |
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23 days confidence:
traveling through his hair, the substance had poisoned his mind Explanation: I think this expression about the hair is simply poetic or just very old and obscure, possibly a folk (or superstitious!) understanding of medecine. There was a similar expression in Hamlet. Hamlet's father was poisoned by ear and it travelled through the "canals of the body" to his brain (or heart?). I believe "mind" fits more than "brain", right before it says "lost his head", implying insanity. |
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